Backbreaker News Post

Backbreaker Updated Hands-On Preview: Angle of Attack (Gamespot)

10:13 PM - March 1, 2010 by adamgod8

Gamespot has posted their updated hands-on preview of Backbreaker. Video interview included.

Quote:


	"There's more to being a top-flight football player than tremendous strength, precise reflexes, and blistering speed. One of the more overlooked attributes of a position like running back is vision, specifically peripheral vision. After all, what good is all that strength, speed, and precision for a ball carrier who can't see a defensive end coming in from the side to clobber him? That's one of the challenges the developers at Natural Motion are facing with the upcoming Backbreaker, the upcoming unlicensed football game for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3."

Game: BackbreakerReader Score: 6/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / Xbox 360Votes for game: 51 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 adamgod8 @ 03/01/10 10:19 PM

I love in the video at 2:18 how the lineman throws the DL down, it looked awesome!

# 2 booker21 @ 03/01/10 10:42 PM

nice, looks good.

hope the AI is good... and we get a decent football game.

# 3 strawberryshortcake @ 03/01/10 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamgod8


	Gamespot preview http://www.gamespot.com/news/6252644.html

Very nice. Great Find.

First reaction:
1. Loving the 3rd person on the field camera angles.
2. Finally some defensive camera angle. Loving it first go around.
3. Finally some comparatively "longer" plays.
4. 3rd person camera vision looks solidly promising.
5. Will need to actually analyze footage to see if there are AI issues that were problematic back in Dev Diary #1 and #2.
6. Will need to revisit footage to see if player movements, and pursuit angles are executed correct or incorrectly.
7. First reaction: more excited than before.

EDIT: I thought I caught a glimpse of "sky-vision" resembling traditional footage view (aka 2k5/apf2k8/madden, etc) before the start of a short play sequence.

EDIT: Looks as if you wanted a greater field vision from a defensive perspective, play Free-Safety or Strong-Safety.

EDIT: By AI issues, one key part I'm referring to is if Defensive Backs play proper coverage, and moves properly with respect to where his assigned receiver is.

# 4 adamgod8 @ 03/01/10 10:51 PM

Yea in the article it stated they have "coach cam" where you can watch the play from up high, you just can't control the player

# 5 SouthernBrick @ 03/01/10 11:02 PM

The camera angle looked very nice on both sides of the ball. Glad to see some actual gameplay on both sides of the ball. I need to see a little more but, this was a nice start. That right there proves not every tackle will be some kind of over the top highlight tackle.

I didn't like the QB drop back, It looked weird but, It could have been User controlled and not letting the CPU control it. Can't wait to see 9 or 10 minutes worth of just straight gameplay. Wish I could have seen more from the smash mouth football but, this should tide me over for a while.

Was this gameplay from the final build or from a something else?

# 6 adamgod8 @ 03/01/10 11:10 PM

This gameplay was from the North American tour they had in mid-February I believe, so it was a couple months before the final build.

# 7 Glorious Arc @ 03/01/10 11:12 PM

The interaction between Oline Dline looks...stiff. At first it looked like there may have been some suction in the blocking at the 3 min mark but after rewinding it a few times it looks like that was the appropriate sequence of actions to occur. I will have to see more footage but I am holding it in question right now.

Overall liked the video. I was unsure about the angles that were first being shown but the plays near the end of the video really left a positive impression. Meaning the Dline was up close and personal and the DBs felt like they had more view of the field.

No injuries is kind of a let down but I think I can live with that. Injuries are both a blessing and a curse for realism. I remember as a kid turning them off so no one would get hurt haha but as I grew up I turned them on to add another level to the game. I am left wondering how progression will work and the ratings system as well. We can have back ups but how it all works...

Also buying players is an interesting concept. They said you would have to get better players to help you win as you progressed in the leagues so I am again left wondering about the scouting system, progression, and the ratings. So many answers today but so many questions are left unanswered that really matter about the longevity of the game.

# 8 SouthernBrick @ 03/01/10 11:30 PM

Definitely would like to have a slo-mo vid. I'm sure one will pop up on youtube soon.

Also Tackle alley is online! Hell yes.

I'm sure this will probably be one of my favorite modes, no doubt Offline/Online. Today has been a good day. I was expecting this to come out tomorrow but, I just happened to catch it over in the BB forum.

# 9 adamgod8 @ 03/01/10 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnyGivenSunday


	Definitely would like to have a slo-mo vid. I'm sure one will pop up on youtube soon. Also Tackle alley is online! Hell yes. I'm sure this will probably be one of my favorite modes, no doubt Offline/Online. Today has been a good day. I was expecting this to come out tomorrow but, I just happened to catch it over in the BB forum.

Im making a slo-mo vid now

# 10 CreatineKasey @ 03/01/10 11:34 PM

Man.... that looks a lot more fun than I expected to be honest! The blocking animations look bad, but the tackling looks like a blast.

# 11 SouthernBrick @ 03/01/10 11:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamgod8


	Im making a slo-mo vid now

Is it going to be a the whole vid or just cut up into gameplay? Either way I'm watching it.

Not sure how long that kind of stuff takes though.

# 12 SouthernBrick @ 03/01/10 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CreatineKasey


	Man.... that looks a lot more fun than I expected to be honest! The blocking animations look bad, but the tackling looks like a blast.

Yeah but, this was most likely from the old build months back. I hope they are improved though because, they looked stiff from what I could tell. A slow-mo vid will give us a better look at it but, until I see a final build(with just straight gameplay) I'm not going to say much about it.

The game does look fun though. The camera angle/adjustments was a lot better than I expected it to be. I can rest easy on the camera angle now which was one of the most important things IMO.

# 13 adamgod8 @ 03/01/10 11:52 PM

I'm just going to do the new gameplay clips, not the whole video. It should be done and onto youtube in a couple hours. (youtubes processing and uploading time takes forever)

# 14 huskerwr38 @ 03/01/10 11:52 PM

The tackle at 2:29 is really sweet. There are like 5 guys coming down on the ball carrier, it looks awesome!!! (

pro-tak

) Oh and the crowd looks tremendous as well at 4:54.

I know people are just going to have a hard time getting used the camera view.

But, I think one big seller is going to be this...!!!! "which you create from scratch using the game's extensive team, uniform, and logo creator. You can save up to 32 created teams in the game, and if you aren't much of an artist, you can copy an existing team's logo and adapt it to your liking by changing designs and color schemes"

# 15 boxboy99 @ 03/02/10 12:08 AM

I can't wait for this game. Sad to see no injuries right now. I honestly want something new that isn't an NFL game. I think this is going to be a fun fresh take on video football. I actually love the sound of the relaegation system. I hope the article is in incorrect where you are derelegated if you are not in the top three. It seems it should only be the botton three. I would think that is an error in the article. Gameplay looks fun, bring it on!

# 16 p_rushing @ 03/02/10 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by boxboy99


	I hope the article is in incorrect where you are derelegated if you are not in the top three. It seems it should only be the botton three. I would think that is an error in the article.

Yes its the top / bottom 3 that switch leagues. Which makes it challenging because you don't want to move up and then not be good enough and move back down the next year.

# 17 SouthernBrick @ 03/02/10 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by huskerwr38


	The tackle at 2:29 is really sweet. There are like 5 guys coming down on the ball carrier, it looks awesome!!! ( pro-tak ) Oh and the crowd looks tremendous as well at 4:54. I know people are just going to have a hard time getting used the camera view. But, I think one big seller is going to be this...!!!! "which you create from scratch using the game's extensive team, uniform, and logo creator. You can save up to 32 created teams in the game, and if you aren't much of an artist, you can copy an existing team's logo and adapt it to your liking by changing designs and color schemes"

Definitely loving that.

I'm not the best artist in the world but, It shouldn't be to hard creating a few charger jerseys. Definitely going to get them throw backs up in there.

Man I hope there is kind of player chatter in this game. It would kinda suck If they couldn't say anything besides yelling out audibles.

# 18 Glorious Arc @ 03/02/10 12:19 AM

@T11

I have to ask...Are there any soft tackles you can point out for us in this video?

# 19 kjcheezhead @ 03/02/10 12:50 AM

I liked what I saw for the most part. The no injuries was the only real disappointment for me. Confirmed ability to create 32 teams and play a 32 team league leaves no doubt about potentially recreating the NFL and the Europeam style relegation seems interesting.

The article concentrated on the camera angles and didn't have any gripes with the playbooks or ai--I gotta figure that means those areas are decent at least.

# 20 t11 @ 03/02/10 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glorious Arc


	@T11 I have to ask...Are there any soft tackles you can point out for us in this video?

LOL, no. But some good stale mates.

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Backbreaker Updated Hands-On Preview: Angle of Attack (Gamespot)